Wakefield Wobbles To 10th Straight Win

American League

Tim Wakefield felt lousy on Sunday. Then he went out and made the Baltimore Orioles feel the same way.

Wakefield finessed through 6-1/3 innings of no-hit ball to earn his 10th consecutive victory and lead the Red Sox to their 11th straight win, beating Baltimore 3-2 in Boston.

“I felt a little under the weather,” Wakefield (14-1) said as he sipped a postgame orange juice. “I just didn’t feel very good. But I seem to pitch better when I’m sick because I don’t care about anything and I just go out there.”

Wakefield retired the first 10 batters and lost the no-hitter in the seventh on Rafael Palmeiro’s solo home run. Orioles starter Rick Krivda (0-2) pitched well, striking out a career-high eight batters in seven innings, but Baltimore couldn’t overcome Jose Canseco’s three-run homer in the first.

Wakefield struck out four and walked five for his major league-leading 14th win. He also leads the majors with a 1.65 ERA. Twice this season he has taken a no-hitter into the eighth inning.

White Sox 8, Athletics 7

Chicago

Tim Raines hit a two-out, two-run homer in the seventh to break a tie as Chicago downed Oakland.

Raines drove in three runs, all coming with two outs, on a blistering 95-degree day in a game that took nearly 4 hours to complete.

Jose DeLeon (4-3) worked 1-2/3 innings of relief for the win. Roberto Hernandez pitched the ninth for his 20th save, surrendering an RBI single by Brent Gates.

Rangers 6, Blue Jays 1

Arlington, Texas

Will Clark collected his 1,500th hit and hit his 200th career home run as Texas beat Toronto for its fifth victory in six games.

Clark hit a first-inning double to reach the first milestone, and belted a three-run homer in the second to reach the second as Texas remained a half-game ahead of the New York Yankees for the A.L. wild-card berth.

Toronto leadoff hitter Devon White and manager Cito Gaston were ejected in the first inning for arguing a checked-swing call.

Angels 2, Twins 1

Minneapolis

Jim Abbott allowed five hits and one run in seven-plus innings as California topped Minnesota.

Abbott struck out two and walked three and got help from an Angels defense that turned three double plays. The left-hander contributed his own sparkling defensive play when he dove to the turf to throw out leadoff hitter Marty Cordova in the fourth.

Yankees 4, Indians 1

New York

David Cone won his fourth straight game since joining the Yankees, Paul O’Neill hit a two-run homer and Randy Velarde had a pair of two-out RBI singles as New York beat Cleveland.

Cone (13-6) allowed six hits but gave up only three after the second inning in his first complete game with the Yankees. He walked three, struck out nine and lowered his ERA as a Yankee to 2.25.

Brewers 8, Tigers 3

Milwaukee

B.J. Surhoff drove in three runs with a single and Greg Vaughn and Mike Matheny both hit two-run doubles to power Milwaukee over Detroit.

Former Spokane Indians hurler Ricky Bones (7-8) pitched 6-2/3 innings for the Brewers, with Rob Dibble relieving after Travis Fryman singled to center to make it 8-1.

Clearing the bases

Each of the stadiums in the A.L. observed a moment of silence in honor of Mickey Mantle… . In the franchise’s 24 years in Arlington, Texas has been over .500 after 100 games only eight times. The Rangers are now 52-48… . Chicago pitcher Jason Bere, on the disabled list with a sore bicep, made a rehab appearance with Triple-A Nashville and was the winning pitcher… . Milwaukee has committed a franchise record 23 passed balls this season.